COMMON BEECH. 813 



and here we may also remark, that one of the greatest 

 disadvantages attending Beechen woods or groves, is, that 

 no underwood or herbage, with the exception of some 

 orchideous and cryptogamic plants, will thrive beneath their 

 shade : even the hardy holly, a plant that nourishes and 

 bears, comparatively unhurt, the drip and shade of many 

 other trees, pines and languishes under the Beech ; laurels 

 and other evergreens, as well as deciduous shrubs, all 

 speedily die when planted beneath its shade. 



The wood of the Beech, in a green state, is hard and 

 brittle, neither its lateral nor its longitudinal adhesion 

 being equal to that of the oak, the ash, or the elm. When 

 dry, it weighs about fifty pounds to the cubic foot. It 

 possesses a heart as well as a sap wood, but the line of 

 separation is not so visible as it is in the oak and many 

 other trees, where the heart-wood is always of a deeper 

 colour than the exterior or sap wood. In colour, it varies 

 from a pale brown to white, the darkest-coloured being 

 considered superior in quality, and the produce of the 

 finest trees and best soil. The transverse fibres of the 

 grain are distinctly visible, and exhibit themselves in ma- 

 nufactured articles, in deeper-coloured shining lamina?. 

 Submerged, or kept constantly wet, it is very durable, 

 and valuable for water-works, as well as for the keels 

 and planking of vessels, for which the clean straight boles 

 of trees that have been drawn up in company are well 

 adapted, and recommended by Matthew. Exposed alter- 

 nately to moisture and dryness, it soon rots and decays, 

 and under cover, or kept constantly dry, no timber is more 

 subject to be worm-eaten ; articles of furniture made of 

 Beech are generally attacked by the beetle a few years 

 after they are made, unless protected by some process, 

 such as varnishing, or saturating the wood with boiling 



